Nimbus Fish Hatchery
The Nimbus Fish Hatchery was constructed in the late 50s as a way to mitigate the impact that the Folsom-Nimbus Dam had created for the salmon and steelhead trout population in the American River. The ladder, which guides upswimming fish to a holding pen at the hatchery, is open in November and stays open until the run is over.
The hatchery harvests the eggs from the female fish, fertalizes it with “milt” from the male, and raises the fry once they have hatched. This whole process can easily be observed by the public through a glass window that divides the visitor’s center from the hatchery floor. The best time to view this work is on Monday and Wednesday mornings. There is also a short film that goes through the life-cycle of a fish, including what is done at the hatchery, in case you aren’t able to (or decide not to) watch the process live. The film is aimed toward kids and does include the harvesting of salmon eggs. It may be a less disturbing experience for younger kids, though, than the front row seat that the hatchery provides Mondays and Wednesdays.
The visitor’s center has some well-made interesting exhibits. Though it is geared toward school-aged kids, there are also things at toddler height that kids can touch and explore. One of the highlights, though, are the raceway ponds. You can feed pellets to fish who are being kept here until they are large enough to be released back to the river. Each year millions of fish are released; salmon are trucked and planted in the Sacramento River-San Joaquin Estuary and steelhead trout are put in the Sacramento River in January and February near Rio Vista. For a nickel you can buy a handful of fish food pellets. Feeding fish may not sound thrilling, but to watch these large fish swimming in unison through a large pond suddenly thrash around trying to catch the pellets you threw into the water, then return to their calm, peaceful swim is something to see. If, after your food supply has been exhausted, you are still feeling in the mood for more fish fun, there is a large fish sculpture that kids can climb on and through. There are a lot of things to do (and learn) here. To read more, check out the post on our latest trip there.
Photo courtesy of http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Hatcheries/Nimbus/Facility.asp
[...] trout as they go through their life cycles. More details of the hatchery are available at a dedicated post. Below is a description of our own experience [...]
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